AROUND OUA: Guelph Invitational

Gryphons have strong showing at home event

GUELPH, ON - The Gryphons Varsity Swim team competed at the University of Guelph Invitational this past weekend (Sunday, Jan. 10). Having just completed a very intensive 12 day training camp in Florida, which included eight hours of training daily, the varsity squad used this meet as an opportunity to race under a full load with surprisingly strong results. Next up, the team will compete January 15-17 in Toronto.

Official results from 2016 Guelph Invitational

The men were led by a trio of senior swimmers at this year's Guelph Invitational in Evan Van Moerkerke, a member of Canada's Senior National Team, Eric Trevisan, and John Carroll. Van Moerkerke captured 1^st in the 50m and 100m events, and 2^nd in the 50m breaststroke. Trevisan was 1^st in the 50m butterfly, and close behind Van Moerkerke, placing 2^nd in the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle events. John Carroll was 1^st in the 200m individual medley and 2^nd in 3 events: 50m butterfly, 100m backstroke, and 100m individual medley. Third year Myles Zagar grabbed 1^st in two distance events: the 400m individual medley and 400m freestyle. Other men in the top 3 were Philip Vranic (3^rd 100m freestyle), Adrian Gavrilov (2^nd 400m freestyle) and Ben Sayles (3^rd 400m freestyle). In the 200m medley relay, the team of Carroll, Van Moerkerke, Trevisan, and Vranic were 1^st with a second Guelph team (Aidan Zagar, Jacob Dosen, Myles Zagar, Daniel Johnston) finishing third. The men (Myles Zagar, Gavrilov, Carroll, Sayles) also captured a second place finish in the 200m freestyle relay.

The women were led by two senior swimmers on Saturday in Tess Wey, who took 1^st in the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle events as well as the 100m freestyle, and Stephanie Papadedes, 1^st in the 400 individual medley and 2^nd in the 100m butterfly and 100m backstroke. Breaststroke specialists Samantha Anderson, Leili Tilvaldyeva and Samantha Young swept the top 3 spots in the 50m, with Anderson and Tilvaldyeva finishing 1^st and 2^nd the 100m breaststroke. Young also finished 3^rd in the 50m and 100m freestyle events.

Rookies Sophia Papadedes and Victoria Di Caro demonstrated the depth of the women's team. Sophia Papadedes grabbed three medals in the individual medley events: 1^st in the 200m, 2^nd in the 100m and 3^rd in the 400m distances. Victoria Di Caro finished 2^nd in the 50m butterfly and 3^rd in both the 50m and 100m backstroke events. Other women in the top 3 were Emily Anzai (1^st 100m backstroke, 2^nd  50m backstroke), Kasey Thompson (2^nd 400m freestyle, 3^rd 100m butterfly), Haylie Burton (2^nd 100m freestyle, 2^nd 200m individual medley), and Tara Mallory (1^st 400m freestyle). The women captured a 3^rd place finish in the 200m freestyle relay (Di Caro, Kennedy Russell, Mallory, Young) as well as 1^st (Anzai, Tilvaldyeva, Burton, Keely-Shaye Shumka) and 3^rd (Stephanie Papadedes, Anderson, Shania Van Herk, Sophia Papadedes) in the 200m medley relay.

Source: Guelph Gryphons

Warriors have successful trip to the Guelph Invitational

Warrior swimmers returned to the competitive pool after 6 weeks of training. Half the group was able to travel over the break and do close to 20 training sessions in 11 days at a warm weather camp. The benefits of these efforts will be seen at OUA champs in early February. Others in the group were at a variety of stages of preparation as people return to campus after work terms or just a break.
 
The swim team has a fantastically successful and high achieving group of student athletes. With so many in co-op programs a perfect storm has come together this term with 16 potential team members being on work term - some as far away as Senegal and China. The swimmers on campus are committed to doing a great job and moving the whole program forward. Yesterday was a start on that with good results.
 
The meet in Guelph with the hosts, York and Laurier providing the competition, was a mixed bag of performances. The standouts were the initial 200 free relays who won for both the men and women. Team performance leaders Graeme Kemp (Waterloo), Jon Ramkissoon and Josie Andres (Thorndale) all stood up and won their events. Mitchell Krafczek (Georgetown), Meaghen Vydelingum (Toronto), Ed Cyr (Minden) and Danyon Chu (Unionville) all contributed with top 3 swims through the meet.
 
The team is off to Toronto this coming weekend and looks to continue to build on the start to the new year.

Source: Waterloo Warriors